Free Dire Sparks (Song of the Aura, Book Five) by Gregory J. Downs Page A

be commended for your instruction.” The Lordyte was speaking the Kinn dialect now.
     
    “ Th-thank you, my Master.”
     
    “ Instruction for the day is ended,” the Lordyte announced to the other Acolytes. “Each of you shall spend the day as you see fit, going where you will, so long as you do not leave the Sepulcher. You are now dismissed.” The Acolytes scrambled through the door at the far end of the hall.
     
    “ Malcyte Trekno,” said Gramling, speaking for the first time. The Kinn tongue sounded wrong on him, somehow. “You are dismissed to attend to your other duties. Leave your… student… here with us.”
     
    “ Yes, my Master,” the Malcyte said, getting up and leaving quickly without even taking the time to brush himself off.
     
    Elia lay where she was, heart beating faster. What was going on?
     
    “ Elia,” Gramling said, speaking the commontongue, “get up.”
     
    She did. Both Gramling and the Lordyte wore odd, half-amused expressions. “What will happen to me?” she asked, before she could lose her courage.
     
    “ Nothing,” answered the Lordyte, using the commontongue now. Odd. “Agrivor Gramling has volunteered to take on the burden of your training. You will begin tomorrow.”
     
    What? “The… the Golden One is not angry with me? After all this?” Elia hadn’t meant to ask that out loud, but it was too late. It made no sense… why was she allowed all this?
     
    The two Pit Striders shared a conspiratorial look. Gramling grinned in a way that reminded her painfully of Gribly.
     
    “ He doesn’t know,” Gramling said finally.
     
    Elia’s heart almost stopped in shock.
     
    “ The Master is bound up in his duties,” the Lordyte explained. “Vastion has fallen, but Vast as a whole is still far from defeated. The Golden One plans day and night to finally crush them. He will do it, eventually. But something has drawn his dream-gaze away from you, for the moment, and he no longer cares as he once did.”
     
    “ I’ve been snooping,” Gramling said with a sneer. “He’s suffered a setback of some kind… probably courtesy of my damnable brother. It’s got me thinking.”
     
    “ He came to me,” the Lordyte said, “And I arranged most of the… advantages you have experienced. The Golden One is not a god, Elia… as I’m sure you know. He believes the other Lordytes and I to have you well in hand.”
     
    “ This one’s a rebel,” Gramling said, a flicker passing in his eyes. Elia opened her mouth in surprise… the Golden Nation had rebels?
     
    “ I have given Master Gramling the free run of this Sepulcher, while his own Master is occupied elsewhere,” the Lordyte responded, shrugging. “In return…”
     
    “ I will wait a while before turning him in,” the younger man said, smiling coldly.
     
    “ One day… I hope you will see the truth,” the Lordyte sighed, and Elia was shocked to find him glancing pointedly in her direction. Who was this Kinn? Did he actually expect her to turn Gramling against the Golden One? He’d nearly tortured her to death!
     
    “ You are dismissed,” Gramling told her, his face expressionless again. “I’ll come for you tomorrow. Be ready.”
     
    Elia nodded, turning to go, her mind a mess of difficulties and confusion.
     
    What had just happened? What was she to do?
     

Chapter Seven: Rebelling
     

     
    Back in her quarters, Elia’s sleep was fitful. The closet-like chambers given to Acolytes were far from comfortable, and the day’s events lent nothing to her peace. The third time she woke from a nightmare, she simply could not go back to sleep. Why can’t it just happen now? Then, whatever it is, it’d be over, and I’d know… whatever it is. The sheer confusion she felt was part of the problem.
     
    Something tapped on her door. Her eyes widened in the darkness, and she resisted the urge to crawl deeper under the thin blanket that covered her. Was it dawn already? Was Gramling coming for her? She